Sainsburys Team And Leadership Behaviour

Sainsburys Team And Leadership Behaviour Introduction In this assignment I need to understand the team and leadership behaviour. The organisation I have chosen to look at is Sainsburys where I was a former employee. Sainsburys plc is a leading food retailer supermarket. The Scenario that I have presented took place when I was working at Sainsburys which will highlight what team skills took place. The main focus in my report is on leadership I will analyse the group interactions and interdependence that were implicated by applying appropriate theories from the Team Skills. This will then enable me to draw conclusions and offer recommendations for improvement. Sainsburys background Sainsburys plc is a leading food retailer supermarket, founded in 1869; it is the longest standing and the third largest supermarket in the UK. Not only is Sainsbury Britains largest retailer of food and wine but it is also the most respected, according to the reportings of the nationwide surveys of industry analysts and company directors. The company has received top or near-top ratings for product and service quality, successful development, profitable pricing, overall financial performance, advertising and marketing, and superior management, as well as recruitment, training, and retention of high-calibre employees. Characters The four characters that I have chosen to look at have different roles within the company however; they all play an important part in the scenario which shows their great team working skills. I have highlighted their roles within the store (Please see appendix 1). The Scenario I used to work in Sainsburys as a cashier and one day when I was working over-time there was a power cut. The store manger Clive called all the supervisors down to the check outs department and said we need to get all the customers out of store and so the check out manager Kristina done a tannoy on the speaker telling all the customers to leave the store due to the power cut. Meanwhile the store assistant manager, Duncan was calling the Head Office to inform them that the store had a power cut. Imran the supervisor of frozen foods than done a call out to all the staff asking them to leave the building and come to the main entrance of Sainsburys. After arriving to the main entrance of the building all the staff got in groups of 8 which were led by a supervisor. We then had to take the customers cold products and put them in the big fridge at the back of the warehouse which was running on a generator. The staff got told by the store manager Clive that all the cold products of the shelf had to be taken off and put it in to big plastic boxes which then went in the big fridge at the back of the warehouse. There were four supervisors; Amy, Dave, Steve and Imran, I was in imrans group and our task was to take of all the milk products off the shelves and put it at the back to the warehouse where the big fridge was. After we done the milk section we were then asked to do the yogurt section, in total it took us 3 hours, 1 hour more than we expected, this meant that the store lost out on 3 hours of business. After the store reopened I got told by my group supervisor to stand on the door n greet all the customers and tell them all the cold products cant be sold due to a power cut. After a few hours we got the power back and Clive the store manager asked a lot of the staff to do overtime and put all the cold products back on the shelves. The staff doing the over time were split in to 3 groups of 5 and in total it took us four and a half hours to put all the cold products ba ck on the shelf. Transcription of Interaction The dialogue that took place between the main characters in the scenarios described above shows the team work that took place (Please see appendix 2). Theories The trait approach to leadership arising from the great man theory identifies the key characteristic of a leader as being successful. Stodgill (1974) identified a list of main traits and skills that a successful leader should acquire. According to Stodgill, a good leader should possess the trait of being able to adapt to different situations, should be alert to social environments, be ambitious and achievement-orientated. As well as this a good, successful leader should be assertive, cooperative, decisive, dependable and dominant in the sense that they should have the desire to influence others. Stodgill also highlighted a good leader to be energetic, persistent, self-confident, tolerant of stress and willing to assume responsibility. The key skills that Stodgill identified as vital for a successful leader are that they should be creative, conceptually skilled, diplomatic, tactful, knowledgeable about group task, organised, persuasive yet socially skilled. The contingency theory proposed by fiedler (1964) states that they is no one way that is best for managers to lead, different situation will require different leadership style for a manager. The managerial situation depends on various internal and external factors such as the working environment. Fiedler identified 3 situations that could describe the condition of a managerial task; leader member relation, this refers to how well the managers and staff get along, task structure which relates to how structured the job is, position power which associates with how much authority the manager possesses. It has been noted that task oriented managers tend to be better in situation in which they have good relationship with good leader member relationship, structured task and a strong position of power. Leader member relation refers to the amount of dependability and support that the leader receives from his or her employee. The Herschey-Blanchard situational theory (1977) suggests that the appropriate leadership style depends upon the developmental level of maturity of the subordinates. This means that in order to establish the appropriate leadership style, the leader must first establish the maturity level of the subordinates in relation to the task that they are trying to accomplish. According to Blanchard the key situational factors are the readiness and developmental level of the subordinates and therefore four different leadership styles have been recognized; directing, coaching, delegating and supporting. The path-goal model of leadership proposed by Evans (1970) and House (1971) suggests that an individuals motivation depends upon their expectation of the reward. According to Evan the most important way that managers can motivate employees is by offering them reward and indicating what they must do to earn that reward. Analyse scenario Although the staffs at Sainsburys have been trained on what to do when there is a power cut, it still occurs unexpectedly, there is no one best way of leading that particular situation, moreover, a leadership style that is effective in one situation may not be effective in another although they may be similar situations. The optimal leadership style is dependent upon many of the internal and external factors; therefore, in this instance the contingency theory of leadership can be applied (Fieldler 1964) as nobody including the store manager Clive expected this to happen however, he was alert and adapted quickly to the situation. As the store manager to be a successful leader, Clive had to think quickly and act fast, therefore the situational leadership theory proposed by Hersey and Blanchard (1977) can also be applied to this scenario. He took the leader role and communicated well with all the staff by keeping them all informed and assigning them to jobs. Mullins (2002) describes leadership as the relationship through which one person affects the action or behaviour of another, from the scenario we can see that Clive leadership qualities affected the rest of the staff as they felt more motivated and knew what they had to do. Duncan used his initiative and thought of calling the head office and informing them nevertheless he still asked for Clives advice. The same applied to Imran as he thought of gathering all of the staff together however, he still asked Clive first. Clive possesses many of the traits and skills identified by Stodgill (1974) we can see from the way he handled the situation that he has the ability to adapt to different situations and is alert to what is happening around him. In addition to this we can see that as a store manager he is a good leader because he is cooperative with his staff, dependable because the rest of the staff rely on him and empowering because off the influence he has on others. We can also see that he did not panic, was organised and tactful in his approach. Clive assigned job roles according to the level of maturity of the workers; this is in consistent with the Hersey-Blanchard theory. From the scenario we can also see that Kristina took lead as well as she was assigning the supervisors on what section of the cold products to work. Imran was also a leader of his group and took a leading role of his group. Recommendations for improvement Conclusion The scenario shows that relevant leadership skills were in place and therefore the situation was handled successfully although some faults that did occur could have been avoided which has led me to present recommendations for improvement that could be used for future reference. The leadership skills presented in the scenario are also in consistent with the leadership theories that have been established. All the characters displayed leadership qualities even though they had different roles within the company; they still worked as a team to resolve the issue. References Evans, Martin G. (1970). The effects of supervisory behavior on the path-goal relationship. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 5: 277-298. http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=380 Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. H. (1977). Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources (3rd ed.) New Jersey/Prentice Hall House, Robert J. (1971). A path-goal theory of leader effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly 16: 321-339. Fiedler, F. E. (1964). A Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol.1). 149-190. New York: Academic Press. Mullins, L. (2002) Management and Organizational Behaviour. 6th ed. FT/Prentice Hall Mullins, LJ (2007), The Nature of Leadership, Management and OB (8e) Stogdill, R.M. (1974). Handbook of leadership: A survey of the literature, New York: Free Press Appendix 1 Character Position Duties Behavior Clive Male, 35 years old Store manager Clives main duty as the Store Manager is to look after the whole store meaning that all managers of all departments report to him. He has the leading role in the store and has to support all staff. He is very charismatic, a strong leader always interested in getting results. Although at times he can be described as authoritarian and arrogant. Duncan Male, 28 years old Store assistant manager As the store assistant manager Duncans main role is to assist Clive in supporting staff and managing the store when he is not present. He is a reliable, organized and motivated individual. Kristina Female, 38 years old Checkout manager Kristinas main duties are to supervise all staff working in the check-outs departments as well as cashing up the money at the end of the day. She is a very friendly, sociable, confident leader that looks for attention to detail although sometimes may appear to be bossy and dominant. Imran Male, 36 years old Supervisor Imran is a supervisor of the frozen foods department. His main duties are to supervise all workers in that department as well as assisting his manager and managing the department when his manager is absent. Although experienced and of a very helpful nature, Imran is lazy and does not keep to his time keeping. Jessica Female, 20 years old Checkouts operator Jessica is a check-out staff, her main duty is to serve the customers the products they want and to help them with any queries that they have. She is a bubbly and friendly person.

The Scientific Revolution

There should be balance, in any essay which deals with events in history, between the dry, chronological facts, and the â€Å"soul† of the event (s) in question. If an essay on a subject of history relies too much on mere historical data and fails to personalize or — in a sense — humanize the concepts and facts which are the meat and bones of the essay, then the loss of emotion and empathy on behalf of the reader will preclude their maintaining an avid interest in the facts, no matter how skilfully presented.Unfortunately, in the essay â€Å"The Significance of the Scientific Revolution,† absolutely no â€Å"human† detail is added to the generally overwhelming flow of dry data and historical fact. The ommission of details, even details regarding dates, persons, and events is less egregious than the ommission of any personal feeling or â€Å"human interest† detail which might have been included alongside the presentation of the key events of w hat is known, historically, as The Scientific Revolution.In â€Å"The Significance of the Scientific Revolution,† the reader is shown a summation of what might be best thought of as the â€Å"key exterior† events of the Scientific Revolution. These key events are presented without any degree of ‘fleshing out† which makes it very difficult to imagine the real-life impact of the events and historical evolution which the essay attempts to describe. the lack of personalization extends to the essay's thesis, or rather, to its lack of a thesis. The idea that the Scientific Revolution was a major historical watershed for human evolution is not a thesis, but rather a statement of what is obvious.Due to its lack of any tangible thesis of humanizing element, the essay, as it stands, presents no verifiable argument and is, at best, a weak summation of chronological events. Age of Enlightenment Although it is tempting for some observers to sum up historical eras into n eat and tidy packages, this temptation is a dangerous one because it often leads to over-generalization and the loss of important historical specificity, much of which may run as a counterpoint or counter-vision to the observer's original, categorical understanding.In the essay â€Å"The Age of Enlightenment† generalization is the rule, and the resultant loss of historical specifics (and therefore accuracy) is the most obvious criticism which may be leveled at the essay. To begin with, the essay offers the view in its opening paragraph that the Age of Enlightenment was uniformly a positivistic era in history: â€Å"peasants and nobles were no longer bound by their feudal obligations. The philosophers of the Enlightenment felt bound to their secular views based from human understanding and reason only.These thinkers hoped that the period would bring positive changes to every aspect of thought and life† (Enlightenment, 1). While this summation may be generally true, it i s a drastic oversimplification of the slow evolution of human rights which began before the â€Å"Age of Enlightenment† and continues right on through to modern times. The author goes on to make several unsubstantiated points: for example, â€Å"the age of Enlightenment was the light that shined on the corruption during the middle ages caused by the Catholic Church† as well as misleading or imprecise diction â€Å"The people behind the age of Enlightenment† (Enlightenment, 1).Basically, the author of the essay has taken a very generalized view, overall, of what the historical Age of Enlightenment really was and in addition, the author has compounded the looseness of their overall argument by using imprecise terms and vague substantiation through secondary sources. Unfortunately, the essay, although logical and put together in a streamlined and linear fashion, offers very little substantive information and may, in fact, be misleading to someone who read the essay hoping to understand the Age of Enlightenment from a genuinely historical perspective.

A Reverse PIN Wont Contact Police

An online rumor started in October 2006 claims ATM users can quickly contact police in the event of an attempted robbery by entering their PIN in reverse. This claim is false. Reverse PIN and Technology False, for now, that is. Technology exists which would allow ATM users to contact police in an emergency by punching in their PIN (personal identification number) in reverse, but as of this publication it has not yet been implemented anywhere in the United States. Lawmakers in the states of Kansas and Illinois introduced legislation calling for the institution of reverse-PIN emergency notification systems (also known under the brand name SafetyPIN) in 2004, but the Kansas bill stalled in committee and the Illinois bill was watered down at the behest of the banking industry, making the adoption of the technology purely voluntary — which it already was. According to a story published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, bankers are opposed to the reverse-PIN system because of safety concerns. They fear that ATM users might hesitate or fumble under duress while trying to enter their PINs backwards, possibly increasing the chances of violence. The banking industry is in favor of finding a means to protect ATM customers, a member of the American Bankers Association said, but question whether the reverse-PIN solution is the right one. Inventor of PIN Number Reversal Says Banks in Denial The inventor of SafetyPIN, Joseph Zingher, claims the banking industry is afraid to admit the growing extent of ATM robbery. Exact figures are hard to come by because ATM holdups are lumped in with other types of bank robbery in the FBIs annual crime statistics. Of the 8,000 to 12,000 bank robberies per year counted by the FBI over the past 15 years, 3,000 to 4,000 were ATM robberies, according to the banking industry. Some crime experts suspect the figure is actually higher. Bankers, for their part, insist they do acknowledge the problem of ATM crime and recommend that customers exercise due caution and be aware of their surroundings when using automated teller machines. Heres a sample email about the false claim of a reverse pin number contributed by J. Brouse on Dec. 6, 2006. PIN NUMBER REVERSAL (GOOD TO KNOW)If you should ever be forced by a robber to withdraw money from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin # in reverse.For example if your pin number is 1234 then you would put in 4321. The ATM recognizes that your pin number is backwards from the ATM card you placed in the machine. The machine will still give you the money you requested, but unknown to the robber, the police will be immediately dispatched to help you.This information was recently broadcast on TV stating that it is seldom used because people dont know it exists. Sources and further reading: Why Reverse PIN Is Not in UseAbout.com: U.S. Government, May 16, 2014 Technology to Keep You Safe at ATM MachinesWOAI-TV News, September 22, 2006 Why Great Ideas Get Shot DownFortune Small Business,   February 1, 2006 Inventor, Kansas Senator Back Idea to Thwart ATM HoldupsSt. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 3, 2005 Banking on ATM SafetyForbes, January 28, 2004

The Islamic State Of Iraq And Al Sham - 1461 Words

The Islamic State, otherwise called the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), takes after an unmistakable assortment of Islam whose convictions about the way to the Day of Judgment matter to its system, and can help the West know its adversary and foresee its conduct. Its ascent to power is less like the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (a gathering whose pioneers the Islamic State considers faithless people) than like the acknowledgment of a tragic substitute reality. The White House has reliably said that it means to annihilate the Islamic State. For over a year, constrained U.S. airstrikes have jabbed at the terrorist gathering without much of any result. ISIS still controls half of Syria and almost 33% of Iraq and has as of late embraced emotional assaults against real targets - Hezbollah in Beirut, Russia in Egypt, and the French somewhere down in their capital city - outside the geographic region it controls. We have misjudged the way of the Islamic State in no less than two ways. To begin with, we tend to consider jihadism to be solid, and to apply the rationale of al‑Qaeda to an association that has conclusively overshadowed it. The Islamic State supporters I talked with still allude to Osama canister Laden as Sheik Osama, a title of honor. In any case, jihadism has advanced since al-Qaeda s prime, from around 1998 to 2003, and numerous jihadists abhor the gathering s needs and current administration. Container Laden saw his terrorism as anShow MoreRelatedThe Islamic State Of Iraq And Al Sham1620 Words   |  7 Pages know how dangerous these people are becoming. The Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham also known as ISIS, an Al Qaeda affiliation is not only alive but spreading and spreading fast. The group started out in Iraq as the world known Al Qaeda before rebranding themselves. 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